Bhool Bhulaiyaa (transl. Maze) is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language horror comedy film directed by Priyadarshan and produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar under the T-Series Films banner. A remake of the 1993 Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu starring Mohanlal, the film stars Akshay Kumar Ameesha Patel, Shiney Ahuja, Vidya Balan, Paresh Rawal, Manoj Joshi, Asrani, Rajpal Yadav and Vikram Gokhale. The film score and soundtrack of the film were composed by Ranjit Barot and Pritam respectively, and the lyrics were written predominantly by Sameer, while Sayeed Quadri wrote one song.
Badrinarayan “Badri” Chaturvedi (Manoj Joshi) heads a Brahmin family whose ancestral palace in Rajasthan is believed to be haunted by the ghost of Manjulika, a classical dancer from Bengal. Siddharth Narayan Chaturvedi (Shiney Ahuja) and his archeologist wife Avni Chaturvedi (Vidya Balan), the son and daughter-in-law of Badri’s elder brother return to their native village from the United States and decide to stay in their ancestral palace. This leads to Siddharth’s childhood love interest Radha (Ameesha Patel), who is Badri’s adopted daughter, feeling heartbroken but she immediately recovers. Siddharth is crowned as the king, his right to the throne.
The palace where Siddharth were staying was once occupied by Raja Vibhuti Narayan, Siddharth’s ancestor. According to legend, he had developed an infatuation for Manjulika, a beauty hailing from Bengal and an exceptional dancer in his court, who in turn was in love with Shashidhar, another dancer, who resided in a house just behind the palace and often met her secretly. On the night of Durgashtami, when the king got to know of their affair and their plan to elope, he called them to perform a dance one last time in the court. When Shashidhar bowed in the end, the king beheaded him and imprisoned Manjulika in her room. On the day of the king’s marriage, Manjulika hanged herself and swore that her spirit would not allow any king to live in that palace. Various omens started taking place after that, presuming that the evil eye may have befallen the kingdom. Vibhuti Narayan too died soon afterwards under unknown circumstances. Soon, with the aid of powerful sorcerers, both Shashidhar’s and Manjulika’s spirits were locked up in a room on the third floor of the palace using a sacred talisman.
